Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Turkeys everywhere were spared yesterday in favor of a roast chicken at the OP. We did, however, celebrate with a little turkey art. My boys couldn't wait to show their handiwork off to M. and Grandma Leslie, and if you were here I know they'd want to show them off to you too. 

By Nate.

By Seth.

These turned out rather well considering I only had a tub of Gesso, a tube of vermillion red acrylic and food coloring* to work with for paint. We really need to invest in some better art/craft supplies. 

In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

- L.

*Despite what the box says, red and blue food coloring do not make purple – they make brown, which I already knew going in. In fact, I was counting on it. Something I didn't count on after washing the paint off: a bright blue palm left behind. I think the boys had almost as much fun showing off their one very blue hand* to each other as they did making the turkeys.

**No worries, it came off the next day after a good bath.

When Pollock Met Van Gogh

It's been a long time coming, but this post is the (long awaited, much anticipated?) update to a poll that ran awhile back regarding art and how it is best served. The choices were fairly simple and it was about as close to a yes/no answer as a poll can get: do you prefer your art on paper or on the face?

And much like our last poll, it was another landslide victory:

Let's take a moment to check in with the winning candidate to see how (or if) knowing the results swayed his artistic stylings in any way. 

– I not sure I agrees with you lone voter, even though
I mostly tries it your way 'dis time.

– Seriously though, does 'dis look like I is having fun?

This round might have turned out with a little less art on the face. By the time all was said and done, I'd say it affected things about 7%. 

So good on you lone voter*! We are officially making a little bit more art on paper thanks to you. 

The last time we got messy with paints and I finally got a little weary of paintings of "alligators" after the 57th one, I put on my thinking cap and asked the boys if they could paint pictures of each other and Mommy and Daddy too. Seth was a little more on board with this exercise at first, but by the end Nate got into it and did a full family portrait.

I found the results far more telling than I anticipated when I came up with a simple suggestion just so I wouldn't have to look at alligators anymore.

For what it's worth, this is an alligator (WARNING! It's possibly a blood thirsty one and might not be appropriate for sensitive viewers): 

"Alligator" by Nate.

My boys are very much into alligators and things that look like alligators or even things that don't look like alligators but they call alligators anyway. I'm sure you get the idea.

So the rest of our gallery was pretty amazing all things considered. The titles are from the artists themselves.

"Mommy and Seth" by Seth.

"Blast Off" by Nate.

"Seth" by Seth.

"Nate" by Seth.

"Mommy, Daddy, Seth and Nate" by Nate. (clockwise from top left)

- L.

*I would have sworn up and down that Gamma Rita was the hold-out for art on paper, but she's flatly denied it and I believe her. At this point in time, I have no other likely suspects. Really though lone voter, you voted for paper over this? 

PS. I must not have looked back far enough through the post-pending archives last night for a happy post, because this would have been much better choice.

And Just Like That, We Did Write Back!

After a bit of an unexpected absence at the OP due to technical difficulties, I thought it would be good to get things back on track with a nice messy post and a poll to boot.

My boys making some art for their Daddy on Father's Day...

– Oh, hi everyone. Is me, Seth. I is making art on paper and have
mastered technique of using both hands in paint pots.

– Oh, hi everyone also. Is me, Nate. I also master double-paint-pot technique,
but I make art on face as well as paper.
'Dis how having two hands really work to one's advantage sometimes. 

– I still lookin' pretty clean everyone!
Paint be (mostly) on paper and all is well!

– Er... no one explain 'dis paint-on-paper-ONLY policy to me,
and I is OK with that lack of information because...

– 'Dis! 

• • • • • • • 

So, here we are once again. For some reason, I have a feeling this isn't going to end well, but I leave the voting up to you on how art is best served. Poll is open for the next week in the left-hand column.

- L.

PS. The "art" mostly wiped off after things were all said and done, but since we used blues and greens Nate had an unfortunate sickly pallor for the rest of the day, which made me thankful that most of our activities took place around the house.

Yarrr! Happy Mother's Day!

Pre-flower-picking in the afternoon.

No pics from this morning since we had a lot to get done and everyone slept in to boot (Mommy's Day score btw!), but we did have a follow-up conversation pursuant to my previous post... 

• • • • • • • 

Me: Do you remember what day it is today?

S: Is special occasion.

N: Special occasion today!

Me: Wow. That's some big words. I can't believe you both remembered "special occasion". Do you remember what the special occasion is?

S: Is Saturday!

Me: Hmmm... well, no. It's actually Sunday today, but that's a good guess. What do you think Nate? Do you remember why it's a special occasion today?

N: Is Blue Day!

Me: Blue Day? Hmmm... I don't know what that is, but it sounds fun. It's actually Mommy's Day today. Do you remember Mommy's Day?

S: ...

N: ...

S: Avast me hearties!

N: ... and a bottle of rum!

S: Yo-ho-ho!

N: Yarrr!

And end scene.

• • • • • • • 

Highlights from today:

Between breakfast and lunch we made art. Specifically, we recreated a previous art project on actual watercolor paper since I was so impressed with the boys' Jackson Pollock stylings I decided I wanted some to frame. I did one as well this time.

The pic doesn't do our efforts justice since they look much nicer in person and less like crime scene spatter analysis photos. Definitely frameable and we had lots of fun making art. Left to right: Nate, Mommy and Seth.

After lunch, my guys surprised me with an unexpected nap instead of quiet times. They slept for a good 90 minutes and it probably would have been longer, but I finally decided it was time to go in and make a little noise. 

Nate was not quite as ready as Seth to wake up, but we got going eventually. Also, I am loving Seth's sweaty bed head look.

By the time we got out the door this afternoon the local market was sold out of cut flowers, but we still had fun browsing the gardening section. At least until the boys got a little hands-on and starting picking flowers. Oops!

I didn't want us to leave empty handed, so we picked up a little cactus that we all agreed looked interesting and headed home where I promptly put the boys to work in the dandelion ridden backyard.

OK, not really. The truth is they love picking dandelions and if you've been around our place then you know that the backyard is rife with weeds. My guys had a grand time gathering a bouquet for Mommy.

Long-stem dandelions no less. Fancy!

As fun as that was, I think I can safely say the cupcakes and ice cream for dessert were the highlight of the day's festivities. Well, as far as Nate and Seth were concerned anyway: 

Om. Nom. Nom. Nom.

Dessert was yummy, the art was fun and the flower picking was a sweet time. I had a wonderful Mommy's Day.

Still, that surprise nap out of the blue (hmmm... blue day?) that gave a weary me a nice break in the middle of the day? Well, that made a wonderful Mommy's Day fairly magical – and by that I mean actual magic was probably involved if my boys were in a mood to take a nap. I try not to question these things for the most part lest it break the spell.

- L.

PS. There was a chorus of "Mommy's Day!" and "Happy Mommy's Day!" coming from the boys' room while I was preparing dinner tonight. I thought about grabbing the camera, but much like questioning the gift of an unexpected nap I didn't want to break the spell here either, and so I kept on with the food prep and just enjoyed the moment.

PPS. I'm pretty sure I was asking for the pirate chat since I taught them that one. Not sure how or why it appeared today since it was a one time thing that happened well over a month ago, but there it was. Yarrr!

Long Distance Love Affair

Every time Gamma Rita comes to visit, I always threaten to cover her in babies and so far I've always made good on that threat. It's easy to do since my boys are happy to oblige. I took these pics during my mom's visit last Christmas, complete with a full coating of cuddly toddlers:

That's a pile of babies, alright!

• • • • • • •

Last week while in the throes of putting together a little box to post to my mom (AKA Gamma Rita) for Mother's Day, I came across a craft idea to send a "long-distance hug" to someone far away. It was not only exceptionally timely, but also cute and it looked like manageable fun to execute with a pair of 2 year old toddlers.

As a craft, it involved a little more Mommy participation than some of our previous efforts since there was much trimming and gluing and the measuring of ribbons, etc. – but it was completely worth a little extra effort to send a long distance hug from the boys to their Gamma. Look at those pictures from last January and tell me you wouldn't do the same.

Unfortunately things didn't turn out exactly as I'd hoped.

Oh sure, the craft itself turned out great: 

However, when all was said and done – and while my boys were being quite animated about a visit to the "POST OFFICE!" to send their handiwork off to Gamma Rita – they let me know that what we were actually shipping were not long distance hugs at all.

Now I'm quite certain I did the craft properly and followed the instructions to a tee, but in the end what we ended up sending turned out to be long-distance high-fives instead.

Four of them in fact.

Sorry about that, Gamma Rita. Hope you are up for some high-fives in lieu of hugs. The (real) hugs are waiting for you on your next visit where I will once again toss a pile of babies on you.

As always.

Happy (early) Mother's Day!

- L.

Sick Day

The gloomy skies notwithstanding, I decided to keep everyone in today since it was fairly clear around 11 o'clock last night that Seth was coming down with a cold. Further reminders occurred a little after midnight and also at 2 AM, but I digress. Suffice it to say, it was a rather long night and I was feeling a little weary myself by morning.

Still, I didn't want the day to be a total wash, so I decided on a whim during breakfast that today would be a good day to tackle something crafty. Of course, I had no idea what that might entail, but found some inspiration in a cheap packet of scrapbook paper I picked up last week and some leftover OP themed tissue paper leftover from the boys' birthday.

It was our first craft involving glue, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it went well overall. The constant chorus of "don't eat it!" on a loop in the background got a little grating after the first 5 minutes, but at least my words were heeded by my little parrots and the end result brightened things up nicely:

Kind of pretty, no?

- L.

Fingerpaints: The OP Gets Artsy Again

Artsy VS. brave – it's all about perspective, everyone!

On a whim – and by "whim" I mean I have no idea what possessed me to attempt this particular activity today – I decided fingerpaints would be both a fun and necessary activity. And by necessary I mean it just sounded like such a good idea (to me) I didn't want to wait until we had proper materials in the house. Also, the boys were taking their sweet time with breakfast and I was a little bored, which is often a recipe for times like these. 

And speaking of recipes... it turns out it's fairly easy to make passable fingerpaints out of common kitchen ingredients if you're like me and decide that fingerpainting sounds super-fun when you don't own any fingerpainting supplies (and also your boys are taking an especially long time with breakfast and you've already done everything you can think of to do in the kitchen). I went with the cornstarch version.

Suitable paper for fingerpaints was also not an item I had on hand – 8.5 x 11 bond is not up to the challenge in case you were wondering – but I did have some extra sheets of coated cardstock laying about from Easter since I was undecided about whether to go with blue and red or a more Easter themed blue and green when I printed up the bunny feet and such. Given it's smooth surface and heavy weight, it seemed suitable enough.

Of course, I didn't take into account how derailed things might get if anyone thought to look at the underside of their paper before we even got started.

– Is like art already make itself, everyone! Also look strangely familiar for some reason...

After we recovered, the artists got down to work: 

Both boys instinctively went with their usual paint-flinging technique, and while that works very well with a thinner paint, it's not so good with a thick paint. Seth eventually adapted his Jackson Pollock spatters into Jackson Pollock type dabs, but Nate remained firmly in the paint flinging camp until the very last sheet of paper (and even then it was pretty clumpy). No one really got into the messy paint-smearing aspect this time around – not even from the boy who prides himself on being messy. 

• • • • • • •

Overall rating: Fun to make and is the appropriate consistency for fingerpaint, although heavy paint areas will crack when dried. Since I haven't personally used proper fingerpaints in over 35 years, perhaps the same is true with the real deal as well. The recipe yields roughly 2 cups of paint which is more than plenty for two artsy boys and left-over paint can be stored for later use. Bonus points: thick paint means you can easily spoon off any color cross-contamination. I ended up putting our leftover paints in a mini-muffin pan which fit nicely into a large freezer bag (which is the picture at top minus the freezer bag).

And just in case you're perpetually unprepared like me and don't have actual fingerpaints handy when inspiration strikes, the recipe is below.

Click to embiggen (although you'll also now need to right-click/CMD click image and select "open in new window" if you'd like to read it proper). As always, I've formatted the end result for printing should you manage to navigate your way there.

- L.

St. Patrick's Day: The OP Gets Artsy

For the life of me I have no idea what possessed me to try out fingerpaints for the first time yesterday, especially since markers have been enough of a challenge.

Also we don't have any fingerpaint.

It was kind of a spur of the moment type thing, but it turns out that there are endless ways to make your own paint out of stuff you already have in your kitchen. And if you're limited on time like me because you decided to do it at nearly the last minute and don't have time for the stovetop paint-making recipes (which would involve cooling time and such), here's the one we went with in a nutshell:

• Combine 1 egg yolk* and 1/4 cup water. Add food coloring. Get painting.

And we did!

Markers or paints, I have to say my boys sure do love the Jackson Pollock approach. 

- L.

PS. I scanned some of the boys' finished works of art and while they look lovely, they don't show off the surprisingly cool feature of painting with egg yolk. I did my best to take a photo of it though:

It was hard to catch the light and take a pic, but egg yolk dries with a nice sheen and just a small amount of iridescence.

PPS. I would definitely do this project again. It was a less messy than markers (really!) and more fun for my boys than crayons.

• • • • • • • 

*The recipe indicated using 1 egg yolk per color, but I'd recommend halving the yolk/water mixture before adding food coloring. Really, a little goes a long way (even with two very busy painters).

St. Patrick's Day: The OP Gets Crafty

This was our very first craft type project, so I wasn't sure what to expect – but the boys had a great time and it really did turn out nicely.

Perhaps a little too nicely.

We got started on our own version of this project yesterday. I went digging around in the Crayolas to see what we had available which amounted to one green crayon and one blue-green crayon (which was certainly more blue than green), but then I discovered some dark green crayons we took home the one time the boys and I ate in a restaurant* so it started to seem a bit more do-able.

I added some white and what turned out to be indigo (the "blue" crayons from the aforementioned restaurant) and we were good to go.

There aren't any pictures of my guys actually getting crafty since I didn't have enough hands to also hold a camera, but it was both a fun and reasonably civilized time decorating wax paper with crayon shavings ("spa-rinkles", anyone?).

I pressed the paper last night after the boys went to bed and cut out shamrocks while they ate breakfast this morning. Word of the day today was definitely "shamrock". Also, they seemed pretty excited to see the "paper" they made.

I strung everything together while Nate and Seth napped this afternoon. I'm not sure Martha Stewart would approve of my use of ordinary kitchen string, but it's what we went with**:

I hung up the finished product in their favorite looking-out window. It was still fairly overcast*** at this point and the camera (or my skills with the camera) didn't capture how pretty it really was. 

I couldn't wait for everyone to get up and see the finished result.

Of course, they were suitably impressed****.

Perhaps a little too impressed as it turned out:

Er... so 'dis not part of craft-time then? 'Cause I feels pretty crafty right now.

- L. 

PS. Since Martha lives in a world where things turn out perfectly, she forgot to mention that you might need to take another quick pass with your iron after you cut out your shapes. Otherwise, this was a great craft and really turned out nicer than I was able to photograph.

• • • • • • • 

*No, I haven't gotten around to that post yet.

**Everything about this project was pretty easy, except for stringing it together. Kitchen string aside, I need to get some better skills in this area since the stringing took longer than the rest of the project combined.

***Also, my windows are dirty.

****They had it off the window faster than you can say "shamrock".